Croatia are expected to lose two spots in the FIFA rankings and will be the new #11 going into November.
With Germany winning both of their October qualifiers and Croatia drawing Czechia 0-0, as it stands, that means the Vatreni would be a Pot 2 nation for the World Cup draw on December 5th.
Top-9 nations plus hosts United States, Mexico, Canada will be seeded Pot 1 nations. Italy is not going to qualify directly so you can take them out of the equation. Germany or Belgium would have to score a huge loss in November for Croatia to move back into the top-9 again.
I guess we should feel blessed to be croatian, period. Year after year we qualify. Thank you Dalic. Remember to remain humble for god’s continued blessings on our nation. Whatever happens remain in a state of grace.
I believe the Pot 2 team, if drawn into the following groups, will play in the following cities:
A – Mex City, Mont, Atl
B – Sea, LA, Tor
C – Atl, Bos, Phil
D – SF, SF, LA
E – Tor, Phil, NY
F – Hou, Dal, KC,
G – Van, LA, LA
H – Guad, Mia, Mia
I – NY, NY, Tor
J – Dal, Dal, KC
K – Hou, Hou, Atl
L – Tor, Bos, Phil
(not necessarily in that order)
Being in Pot 2 isn’t terrible. A 25% chance to get drawn with Canada, USA or Mexico
Which likely would mean a team from Africa, Asia or South America as the remainder teams
I’m hoping we are paired with Canada 🇨🇦 it will be hilarious when there are more Croatian fans in the stands then Canada fans …then again I can see the same thing happening in a few U.S. cities.
It would be great if our matches were in Canada ? I’m assuming that it is a bit cooler than in USA and Mexico during the summer ?
From all the teams in Pot 1 Canada would be the ideal draw.
Probably best case scenario – group b (Canadas group) would potentially play in BC , Seattle , Los Angeles and Toronto – so weather wise that can’t be topped!
Besides Toronto ( only 1 game from that group there) that travel is really easy as well!
Toronto was outrageously hot this summer. The Canada “cold” thing is a myth. (Not in the winter, obviously.)
Who will Mihovil Buble be supporting ?
I remember the FIBA tourney in 94 and Croatians had way more fans than mostly any other nation
As of right now, assuming a pot 2 position for the drawing – Croatia is most likely play in the Midwest section (Texas, Monterrey Mexico, Kansas City)
Definitely not guaranteed but a slight favorite. I think a 35% chance (which is the most probable at this moment )
Followed by the west at 30% (SF, LA, BC and Seattle )
East at 25% (NY, ATLANTA, Toronto, Miami)
Then there’s other one of stadiums at the bottom
Not sure of the numbers, but the trend is probably right. As I wrote out in the last post, pot 2 means we’d have lower odds of being paired with a European pot 1 team (since FIFA won’t allow more than 2 European countries together). So our odds of being with USA/CAN/MEX would increase (as well as with Brazil or Arg).
Since we already know exactly where the 3 hosts will be playing their group stage games, the odds are a little higher then we would go there:
USA – All West coast.
Mex – Almost all in Mexico, 1 in Atlanta.
Canada – Almost all on West coast, 1 in Toronto